


Learning Experience

by dracoqueen22



Series: Tethers [14]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cunnilingus, DND Adjacent, F/F, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Frottage, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracoqueen22/pseuds/dracoqueen22
Summary: There’s only one bed, and Celeste is rather sure Rathi planned it that way. As it turns out, however, Celeste is keen on being seduced.
Relationships: Rathi of the Cinders/Celeste Stiel
Series: Tethers [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1455610
Kudos: 2





	Learning Experience

**Author's Note:**

> I hear it's Femslash February? But also, I wrote this as a gift for my girlfriend for Xmas. This may or may not be canon yet for the Tethers universe. Enjoy!

“Oh dear,” says Rathi as Celeste unlocks and pushes open the door to their shared room for the evening. “It looks like there’s only one bed.”  
  
Celeste staggers under the weight of Rathi draped along her side. “It’s my turn to sleep on the floor,” she points out as the door hits the wall behind it with a dull clatter. A wash of musty air greets them, along with the underlying, familiar scent of their belongings crouched in the corner.  
  
Celeste stumbles into the room, kicking the door shut behind her. Rathi is no help whatsoever because she’s had twice as many mugs of ale compared to Celeste, and she’s been a snuggly lump against Celeste’s side all night.  
  
“Nonsense,” Rathi says, cheerful and devilish, her hair wafting heat across Celeste’s cheek. She pats Celeste’s shoulder playfully. “We should just share.”  
  
Celeste dumps her on the bed. She’d intended for it to be gentle, but overestimated at the last second, and down Rathi goes like a sack of inebriated potatoes. Oops.  
  
“It really only fits one,” Celeste points out. She should be used to Rathi’s flirting by now, but it always feels like something genuine she wants to acknowledge, and it’s starting to hurt.  
  
Rathi rights herself with the kind of flexibility Celeste envies and squirms until she’s comfortable on the narrow bed, her eyes glittering as she looks up at Celeste. “We could snuggle,” she offers.  
  
Celeste crouches to remove her own boots, avoiding Rathi’s gaze. “How many drinks did you have?” she asks as she sets them aside, the soles thick with muck from their wade through the marsh.  
  
“Not as much as you seem to think. I have a strong constitution.” Rathi’s still watching her, the weight of her stare turning the air in the room hot and humid. Everything’s always hotter with Rathi around. She can’t help it.  
  
Celeste snorts. “You drank more than anyone at the table, even Sinoun, and that’s impressive,” she points out, nudging her boots further away. The drying peat reeks, and she’s about to open the window and flick out the mud to save her nose.  
  
“Do you think I’d have to be drunk to want to lie with you?”  
  
Celeste’s ears burn at the frank question. She doesn’t answer, choosing instead to dig through their haphazard pile of belongings. Rathi had been in such a hurry to get downstairs for food and drink, she’d just shoved their bags into a corner. It’ll take a moment for Celeste to find her bedroll.  
  
At least she won’t be sleeping outside. She swears she always manages to find the rockiest patch of their chosen campsites.  
  
“Seriously, Cel. You don’t have to sleep on the floor,” Rathi says, the bed creaking as she shifts, her voice more alert than before. “I can keep my hand to myself.”  
  
Celeste unbuckles her armor and peels it off her aching body, letting it clatter into the pile of their belongings. She rolls her shoulders to ease the bruising press of wearing it for so long. Three months on the road and she still isn’t used to it.  
  
“Do you need help with your boots?” Celeste asks as she unstraps her reinforced gloves and adds them to the pile.  
  
The worst part of adventuring is having to remove your armor and then put it all back on the next day. It’s so darn time-consuming.  
  
The bed gives a groan of displeasure as Rathi sits up, her eyes suddenly clear, and all trace of alcohol-induced sprawl gone. “I told you I’m not drunk,” she insists. She pats the bed beside her. “Sit. Let’s talk serious for a minute.”  
  
“Why?” Celeste’s heart pounds in her throat. The room’s so tiny there’s only a few paces of space between them, but it suddenly feels insurmountable.  
  
“Because there’s no reason for you to sleep on the floor,” Rathi says plainly, carefully, watching Celeste like she’s searching her face for something. “Unless I make you uncomfortable, in which case I’ll drop it, and next time, the floor is mine.”  
  
Her face is aflame, and Celeste is immediately grateful for her dark complexion. “You don’t,” she says, and folds her arm across her chest, half-wishing she still had her armor on. “It’s just…”  
  
“You don’t believe I find you absolutely charming?” Rathi asks. “Or stunningly gorgeous? Or that I’d happily drown you in pleasure if you let me?”  
  
Celeste’s mouth goes dry. She tries to swallow and can’t seem to work up the saliva. She’s so hot, it’s amazing Rathi’s the one who’s actually on fire.  
  
“Are you trying to tell me you’re being genuine or that I’m convenient?” Celeste asks, because that’s always been one of her worries. Rathi’s a flirt, in the same way Tempest is a flirt, but somehow, it’s harder to tell with Rathi. Celeste can’t even put a finger on why.  
  
Rathi snorts and raises one crimson eyebrow. “If I wanted convenience, I’d tumble Tempest. She’s offered more than enough times.”  
  
“But you don’t. Want Tempest I mean,” Celeste says, her tongue turning into tangles in her mouth. She swears she’s better at conversation than this, but something about Rathi tosses all her intelligent words out the window.  
  
Rathi gives her a serious look, all traces of inebriation gone from her, as if she’d burned the alcohol right out of her blood. “Tempest is adorable and fun, and I’m glad to call her a friend. But the one I’m hoping to coax into a snuggle is you.”  
  
Celeste’s hope fizzles like a campfire in snow. “Oh. A snuggle.”  
  
“Only because it doesn’t seem like you want more, and I’d never go where I wasn’t wanted,” Rathi says, rolling her shoulders. She drags her hand through her hair, the tips briefly flicking to flame.  
  
Celeste nervously tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “W-what if you were?” she asks, dredging up a shaky confidence.  
  
“Were what?” Rathi lifts her chin. “I’m going to need you to be clear, sweetheart.”  
  
Oh, gods. The endearment shoots straight to Celeste’s belly, filling it with the warmth of soup on a winter’s day. Her palms are clammy, however, and her face is hot enough to glow.  
  
“What if I do want you?” she asks.  
  
Rathi grins and pats the bed next to her again. “Then we can always start with a kiss and see where that goes.” She says it so easily. Celeste envies her confidence.  
  
Celeste, however, can’t bring herself to move. “I’m not… I haven’t…” She gnaws on her bottom lip. She’s twenty-seven. This is incredibly embarrassing to admit. “People don’t usually want me, Rathi.”  
  
The bed creaks as Rathi stands, and Celeste startles because she’s suddenly close, all caramel skin and flickering hair and the scent of campfire that always clings to her. “That’s their loss then because I think you’re extraordinary.”  
  
Rathi lifts her hand and reaches for Celeste, but she pauses as if she’s waiting for permission, before her warm hand cups Celeste’s cheek. Warmer, even, than the burn already in them. “May I kiss you?” she asks, barely louder than a murmur.  
  
Celeste’s heart is pounding in her ears. “Please do,” she says, almost desperately. Rathi makes this so easy, by the gods. “I want you to.”  
  
“Well then.” Rathi’s thumb is a gentle pressure on the rise of her cheekbone as she leans in. “It’ll be my pleasure.”  
  
The anticipation takes away Celeste’s breath, and her eyes flutter closed mere seconds before Rathi’s mouth presses to hers in a gentle brush of her lips. Celeste’s knees wobble, and she blindly grabs at Rathi’s waist, keeping her close, hoping one kiss won’t be all she gets.  
  
It’s not.  
  
Rathi kisses her again and again, each press of her lips lasting longer than the kiss before it. Celeste parts her lips, waiting, but Rathi kisses her a third time and a fourth time, keeping it chaste for all that the pressure firms and firms.  
  
Celeste’s patience shatters, and the next time Rathi kisses her, Celeste licks at the seam of Rathi’s lips, only for their tongues to immediately touch, hot and wet. Celeste makes an unintelligible noise, and Rathi purrs appreciatively, her fingers sliding into Celeste’s hair. She tilts Celeste’s head to deepen the kiss, and her tongue sweeps into Celeste’s mouth eagerly. She tastes like the ale they had for dinner, and something else, like burnt marshmallow.  
  
Delicious.  
  
Celeste makes another embarrassing noise and slides her other arm around Rathi, keeping her close, lining their bodies together. The heat of her is intoxicating, and Celeste could honestly do this for hours, just exploring Rathi’s mouth with her tongue, and measuring the shape of Rathi’s lips with her own.  
  
She could have, if Rathi had not pulled back with a delighted hum, her thumb rubbing over Celeste’s bottom lip, plump and tingling from the multitude of kisses.  
  
“That was divine,” Rathi says. “Thank you.”  
  
Celeste has kissed someone before. Once or twice, brief kisses that did little for her as they always felt like something of an afterthought or the result of a dare or someone’s charity.  
  
But this.  
  
This had been a kiss. This is what it means to be kissed. And she wants so much more.  
  
“Is that something people normally say after?” Celeste asks, her tongue sweeping over her lips which won’t stop buzzing. “Because I feel like I should be saying it to you.”  
  
Rathi chuckles. “If they’re kissing you, they ought to be offering their thanks to the gods,” she says and brushes Celeste’s bottom lip again. “Will you share the bed with me?”  
  
Celeste swallows an embarrassing sound. “Just to sleep?”  
  
Rathi kisses her again, and Celeste melts into it, melts against Rathi, leaning into her warmth and softness. No, not softness. There’s not much about Rathi that’s soft. She’s all finely shaped muscle and strength, and even her breasts are high, firm handfuls, but she’s gorgeous and Celeste wants everything about her.  
  
She leans forward, Rathi stumbles back, and Rathi chuckles against her mouth again. Her lips are curved with indulgent amusement.  
  
“Maybe more than sleep then?” Rathi asks.  
  
Celeste’s ears burn. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” Celeste admits. She’s hot and shaking, her lips tingling, and an all-too-familiar ache between her thighs. She’s spent too many nights stroking herself for a bit of comfort not to recognize the sensation.  
  
She’s inexperienced, not an idiot.  
  
“Few do, sweetheart,” Rathi says, and the endearment makes Celeste melt all over again.  
  
She shakes her head to focus. “No, I mean.” She stops, draws in a heavy breath. “I’ve never done… this.”  
  
Rathi’s hand cups the side of her neck, as she draws back to look into Celeste’s eyes. “Which part specifically?”  
  
Oh, gods.  
  
“S-sex,” Celeste stammers like an idiot even though she’s almost thirty, and she shouldn’t be embarrassed to say the word. She wants to think she’s as confident and clever and experienced as Rathi, but she’s just not.  
  
Rathi’s eyes widen with surprise, and Celeste barrels on before she can say anything, “I mean, I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything. This doesn’t have to be a big deal. I just…”  
  
Rathi’s finger covers her lips, quieting her. “If this is what you want, then I’m not going to question you. I’d be honored.” She gives Celeste a hint of a devilish grin. “And I have to admit, it’s quite the thrill to know I’ll be the first to touch you in such a way.”  
  
The heat in Celeste’s face burns brighter. “It’s just that I like you, and I trust you, but that also means I don’t really know what I’m doing or what I want…” She trails off, gnawing on her bottom lip. “It’s kind of pathetic, isn’t it? I’m almost thirty, and I haven’t…”  
  
“It’s not pathetic at all, and I’ll punch the lights out of anyone who tells you otherwise,” Rathi says, cupping her face again. “So let’s see about finding what you do like and what you do want, hmm?”  
  
Celeste swallows thickly. “Tonight?”  
  
“If you like.”  
  
Oh, gods. Heat pools so quickly in Celeste’s groin, she shivers. She clenches, her panties damp already, and she unconsciously shifts, rubbing her thighs together, the barest hint of pressure against the rise of her mons.  
  
“What would we be doing?” Celeste asks.  
  
Rathi grins, and there it is again, a devilish look that makes Celeste weak in the knees. Her hand drops to Celeste’s collarbone, finger toying with the fold of Celeste’s collar. “First, I’d like you naked. Then I plan on doing a lot of touching. Do you have any problems with that?”  
  
Celeste’s hands go to the ties of her robe before she consciously makes the choice to do so. “Um. No. Not at all.”  
  
“Good.” Rathi presses a quick kiss to her nose and steps back, sitting on the bed, her gaze focused on Celeste. “But feel free to tell me if there’s something you don’t like. I’m about fun and good times here.”  
  
Celeste flushes and unknots her sash, letting it hang loose. Her over-robe sags, baring a few inches of skin, and Celeste can’t meet Rathi’s gaze. It’s not the first time Rathi’s seen her naked. They’ve bathed together plenty of times. Bathing privacy is a thing that doesn’t exist out on the open road, so Rathi knows all about Celeste’s stretch-marks and soft midsection and thick thighs and wide hips.  
  
It feels different now, though, because Rathi is intending to look this time. She’s going to see all of Celeste’s imperfections up close. And Celeste hasn’t had a real bath in a couple days now. All this tiny village has are a few basins of water for her to wipe herself down with, that she’d only been willing to use after wasting a purification spell.  
  
“Celeste?”  
  
She stares at the floor. “Sorry. I’m--”  
  
“Beautiful?” Rathi finishes before she can say something to the contrary. “Because I think you are, though I understand why you might have trouble believing me.” She pauses and says, “Would be more comfortable if I was naked, too?”  
  
Celeste gnaws on her lip so hard she tastes blood, and laughs a little self-deprecating. “Yes and no.” She tugs on the fold of her robe and tosses her hair out of her eyes. “I want to see you naked, gods, do I want to see you naked, but that’s because you’re gorgeous, and I’ve been dreaming about touching you.”  
  
Rathi touches her own cheek, and now she’s flushing a bit. “Flattery will get you everywhere, sweetheart. But think about this… every naughty little thought you’ve had in your head about me, I guarantee I’ve had it about you.”  
  
Celeste has indulged in many, many fantasies about Rathi already. Her heart pounds at the idea of fulfilling even one of them.  
  
Rathi bounces to her feet and tugs at the click-belt at her waist. “Come on. Let’s strip together. How about that?”  
  
Well, it’s easier if Rathi’s not just staring at her. So Celeste nods and examines the multitude of grooves in the wood floor, holding her breath as she unfolds the complicated wrap of her robe.  
  
“Words, sweetheart.”  
  
“Let’s do that,” Celeste says, and shoves off her robe before she can tell herself not to, standing there in only her panties, her breastband, and her ratty knee-high knit socks.  
  
She has no qualms about her socks, so they can go. Celeste awkwardly tugs those off, tossing them on top of her crumpled robe, and tells herself not to fold her arms or hide behind them.  
  
“Do you need some help or…” Celeste’s question trails off as Rathi stands in front of her, fully nude, as if she’d used magic to wriggle out of her clothes in the fifteen seconds or so it had taken Celeste to convince herself to strip.  
  
Rathi’s got her hand on her hip, her injured arm cocked proudly, her shoulders squared and the perky nipples on her perky breasts tightened into gorgeous cinnamon nubs. Celeste’s mouth goes dry, and her thoughts flatline.  
  
“I’m good, but it looks like you could use some help,” Rathi says cheekily. She pats her hip. “It pays not to bother wearing smallclothes.”  
  
Celeste’s breath falters. “You don’t wear…” She trails off, realizing that Rathi does not wear panties, that she’s bare assed under her clothes all the time. The idea makes her a bit faint.  
  
“Nope. I’ve found out that they’re just a bother.” Rathi pops the word and steps closer, resting her hand on Celeste’s hip, at the band of her panties. “Can I take these off or would you rather keep them on?”  
  
Gods.  
  
Celeste’s knees wobble again. “Don’t they need to come off?”  
  
Rathi grins. “Not really. I can always shift them aside for the important bits, or slide my fingers beneath them if I need.” She slips a finger beneath the band, just to the second knuckle, and strokes the bare skin of Celeste’s hip to demonstrate. “Completely up to you.”  
  
“Take them off,” Celeste says, and is embarrassed at her boldness, but then Rathi bobs in for a quick kiss.  
  
“Gladly,” she murmurs and hooks her fingers in the band of Celeste’s panties, starting to pull them down slowly, aching slowly, gradually lowering herself to her knees as she does.  
  
Celeste stares, anticipation hot and heavy in her belly, a deep throb at the apex of her thighs. She widens her stance to make it easier, and would have been embarrassed by the damp patch on her panties if Rathi hadn’t made such an appreciative noise.  
  
“That’s a good sign,” she says, and looks up at Celeste as her fingers tickle around Celeste’s right knee and glide gently upward brushing over the finer hairs on her leg, just to mid-thigh, along an inner patch of skin. “Mind if I take a look while I’m down here?”  
  
Celeste has no idea where to put her hands. She has to bend over a little to see Rathi over the rise of her own breasts, and in a fit of irritation, tears off her breastband to make it easier. Rathi makes another appreciative noise as Celeste’s breasts bounce free.  
  
“Oh, I have to taste those later,” she says. “But first…” Her fingers lightly brush further up, along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, stopping shy of where Celeste aches the most. “You didn’t answer my question.”  
  
“Only if you’re going to be doing more than touching,” Celeste says, and she widens her stance a little further. It feels weird to be this bold, but judging by the way Rathi’s eyes light up, and her hair flickers a bit, it’s exactly the way she should be.  
  
“Touching. Tasting, even, if you don’t mind,” Rathi says, and her fingers slide up a bit further as she leans in, pressing a kiss to Celeste’s other thigh. “I’ve been wondering how sweet you’ll be on my tongue.”  
  
Celeste sways a little, her hands pulling in and out of fists, still not knowing what to do with them, so she clutches her breastband, twisting it into knots. “I haven’t really bathed lately.”  
  
“Mmm. Just means this is all natural you,” Rathi murmurs, and the first tentative touch of fingers makes Celeste wobble. She holds her breath as fingers glide through her wetness, stroking her outer lips, and her feet inch further apart, hips canting, eager for more.  
  
“That’s it, sweetheart,” Rathi says, her breath coming in hot and damp exhales against Celeste’s thigh as she lays little kisses, her fingers stroking and stroking, briefly dipping against her wet center before re-emerging to stroke wetly over her outer lips. “Gods, you’re gorgeous.”  
  
Celeste moans, and when Rathi’s fingers drag upward, barely grazing over her clit, she jerks a little in place, her eyes wide. She muffles a squeak in the fabric of her breastband, staring down at Rathi with wonder.  
  
“There you are,” Rathi says, looking up at her with delight. She licks her lips, and circles Celeste’s clit again, making her hips jerk. “This good?”  
  
Celeste nods vigorously.  
  
“I won’t make you say it aloud this time,” Rathi says with a chuckle, and licks her lips pointedly. “Still okay with me tasting you?”  
  
Celeste whimpers. She rocks forward.  
  
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Rathi murmurs, and strokes Celeste again, her gaze dropping back to the apex of Celeste’s thighs, focused and intent.  
  
Then she leans forward, curls out her tongue, and Celeste sways dizzily at the first hot, wet lick. She’s throbbing and swollen already, her heart pounding in her ears, a flush of heat spreading over every inch of her skin.  
  
Rathi licks her again, further this time, deeper, and makes a sound of enjoyment that vibrates through Celeste, all the way to her core. Celeste gnaws on her breastband, swaying in place, feeling like she’s forgotten how to do anything except concentrate on each long and savoring lap of Rathi’s tongue. On each sweep of her fingers. On the gentle kisses, the suckling one over her clit.  
  
It’s not until Rathi looses a quiet, breathy laugh that Celeste realizes she’s gripped Rathi’s shoulders tight enough to bruise. “Shall we move to the bed?” she asks.  
  
“I might fall on you if we don’t,” Celeste admits after spitting out her breastband. It drops to the floor in a well-gnawed crumple.  
  
Rathi looks at it with raised eyebrows.  
  
Celeste’s face burns, but Rathi just laughs, takes her hand and tows her to the bed. “I’ll consider it a compliment,” she says as she turns Celeste around and gives her a little nudge. “Lay back for me, sweetheart. I want to finish my dessert.”  
  
“Oh, gods,” Celeste covers her face with her hands as she sinks onto the bed. “You’re ridiculous.”  
  
Rathi hums. “Let’s see if you say that after I get my mouth on you again,” she teases as warm lips trace a path up Celeste’s inner thigh, her shoulders nudging Celeste’s legs wider and wider, until she’s splayed out, completely visible to Rathi’s appreciative gaze.  
  
There’s a moment where Celeste almost covers herself out of embarrassment, but it passes as quickly as the light kiss to her clit, and Rathi’s audible inhale. “I love your curls,” Rathi murmurs as she cards her fingers through the wiry hair on Celeste’s mound. “They’re so cute.”  
  
Celeste finds it’s much safer behind her hands. She twitches as Rathi exhales over her, and the anticipation is a hot coil in her belly. She makes an impatient noise, and Rathi breathes a laugh before she leans in, and the first lap of her tongue is long and deep.  
  
Celeste’s thighs tremble. She moans before she can stop herself, her face hot against her palms, her hips rolling up to follow the path of Rathi’s tongue. Even more when a light pressure on her clit goes in careful circles while Rathi continues to lap at her, slow and lazily, like she’s savoring a sweet.  
  
Celeste’s nerve endings are on fire. It’s all so much. She gasps, and her hands fly to the blanket, twisting in the rough wool of it. She squishes her eyes shut, embarrassed by all the noise she’s making, by the way her body is moving independent of her, squirming on the bed and up toward Rathi’s mouth.  
  
“That’s it,” Rathi murmurs, licking and licking and kissing Celeste’s clit before moving back down to lick some more, one of her fingers a constant, perfect pressure of circles on her most sensitive nub.  
  
Celeste makes a noise, and not even she’s sure if she’s begging or if she’d gasped Rathi’s name, or if it is just unintelligible gibberish. Her whole body is on fire, and her skin seems absurdly sensitive, while the pressure within her grows and grows, and it’s all she can do not to squeeze Rathi’s face between her thighs.  
  
“Rathi, please,” she manages to eke out, anxiety bedamned.  
  
Rathi moans against her, mouth pressing hard, tongue pushing deep before she licks again and again, flicking Celeste’s clit, sucking on it, before returning back to her center.  
  
“Come on, sweetheart,” she urges. “You can do it. Come for me, darling.”  
  
The endearments are bolts to her heart and elsewhere. They shoot through her like lightning, and as a broad pressure lays over her clit, Celeste shatters, her toes curling, her back arching, her legs shaking. Everything seems to seize, breathing and all, as lights dance in her eyes, and then she’s crashing back to earth, trembling in the aftershocks of the best orgasm she’s had in her entire life.  
  
And Rathi’s still licking her, still touching her gently, making the most pleased sounds. The kinds of sounds Celeste’s only heard her make after a really good thimble of whiskey or a particularly well-baked cinnamon roll.  
  
Celeste gasps, sensitive and twitching, her thighs trying to close. Rathi chuckles quietly before she draws up, and climbs Celeste’s body, her face damp with Celeste’s own slick, her eyes dark and hungry.  
  
“Gorgeous,” she’s panting, sounding desperate as she curls around Celeste’s body, her legs clamping on Celeste’s right thigh, the hot wet of her scrubbing along Celeste’s skin. “Beautiful. Delicious. Thank you, sweetheart,” she says, in a rush, before she’s kissing Celeste, and Celeste can taste herself on Rathi’s mouth, tangy and sour, but like a lime is sour. A sweet kind of sour.  
  
Celeste moans and kisses her back, her arms wrapping around Rathi, crushing Rathi against her, the pebbled nubs of Rathi’s nipples poking against her own breasts. Her knees draw up, and now Rathi’s rocking against her right leg, grinding down on her, making these urgent, grunting noises. Her mouth is a sloppy press to Celeste’s, her elbow braced on the bed, her hand tangling in Celeste’s hair.  
  
She’s hot and slick on Celeste’s thigh, the wet sounds of her movements making something twist and tangle inside of Celeste. Rathis’s hips work hard, rutting along Celeste, grinding down, and when Celeste grabs her hips, pulls her closer, more firmly, Rathi makes a sighing gasp that tightens Celeste’s own nipples into nubs.  
  
It has to be instinct, Celeste thinks, because she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Her hands are roaming, squeezing and stroking Rathi’s skin as she moves up and against Rathi, their bodies tangled together on the rough wool of the blanket. The bed creaks and groans its complaints, the bedside table’s contents rattling, all distant noises to the beautiful sounds Rathi makes.  
  
“Is this…?” Celeste asks, frustratingly unable to get out a question that makes any sense.  
  
“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Just like that,” Rathi mumbles in a rush, and then her mouth is hot and wet on Celeste’s throat, teeth and tongue grazing over her skin.  
  
She moves harder, jerkier, rutting on Celeste’s thigh like a man might push into a woman, and a low groan exhales damp against Celeste’s skin, Rathi’s grip pulling at her scalp in a way that’s not entirely unpleasant.  
  
Rathi starts shaking in her arms, and Celeste realizes that she must have found her release, because she’s clutching at Celeste, and the damp on Celeste’s thigh is a dripping mess. Rathi’s hair flares, hot enough to singe, but a flash-fire, the scent of campfire thick in the room until it’s chased away by the sour-sweet tang of a woman’s slick.  
  
Rathi’s mouth drags back to hers, languid and sweet, her movements slowing until she stills, humming in her throat, feathering kisses along the curve of Celeste’s jaw. Celeste strokes her back, heart pounding a mile a minute, a languor seeping into her body despite the rabbiting of her pulse and the low ache building between her thighs once more.  
  
“Well,” Rathi says on a breathy exhale. “I hope that was not a disappointment, Cel.”  
  
“Not at all,” Celeste says, her thoughts quivering and colliding in the mass of jelly that is her brain, unable to think coherently. “That was amazing. I… thank you, Rathi.”  
  
Rathi chuckles and awkwardly shifts, rising back onto her elbow, her face flushed and eyes bright as she looks down at Celeste. “Thank you for that gift,” she says, licking her lips. “You’re a natural, sweetheart.”  
  
The blush returns, and Celeste finds it too hard to hold Rathi’s gaze, her hands sweeping up and down Rathi’s sides instead. “I’m glad you enjoyed it, too.”  
  
“Oh, my enjoyment was inevitable. I could barely keep myself together while I was savoring you.” Rathi nuzzles her cheek, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “And if you’ve got the energy to spare, I’d love to go for a second helping.”  
  
Celeste looks at Rathi, startled. “Again?”  
  
“Can you not?” Rathi asks, shifting once more, to take the weight off her arm, though she keeps their legs tangled, and now she can stroke over Celeste’s belly, down, down toward her thatch of curls, lazily swirling her fingers through them. “Most can go several times a night if their partner is determined enough.”  
  
“S-several times?” Celeste’s eyes are wide even as her thighs start to part, as the hungry clench of her throbs invitingly.  
  
Rathi hums in the affirmative, her fingers sliding down, gently stroking Celeste’s outer lips, playing in the slick still gathered there. “Plus, I really didn’t get to worship these beautiful breasts of yours. They deserve some attention, too.”  
  
Celeste shivers, her fingers digging into Rathi’s skin as a single finger inches into her, only to the second knuckle, but she clenches down on it anyway. “I’ve got the stamina if you do,” she says, her voice canting toward hopeful.  
  
“Oh, darling. I can go all night,” Rathi purrs and nibbles on her earlobe. “Does that sound like a plan to you?”  
  
Celeste moans, her thighs squeezing against Rathi’s wrist as she rocks on the one finger, trying to urge it deeper, where there’s an ache needing to be sated. “Do I get to touch you this time?”  
  
“You can touch me anywhere you want,” Rathi exhales into her ear, hot and wet. “In fact, I encourage it.”  
  
They’re going to be exhausted come the morning, Celeste is sure of it. Just as sure as she doesn’t care, because Rathi is looking at her with nothing short of appreciation, and it blooms a warmth all throughout Celeste’s chest. It feels like being wanted, and it’s intoxicating.  
  
Celeste rolls over and kisses Rathi with a confidence she didn’t have less than twenty minutes ago. Rathi laughs with delight and kisses back, her arm wrapping around Celeste, her body rising and rolling against Celeste’s.  
  
It’s a wonderful night.  
  


***

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is greatly welcomed and appreciated. I'd love to know if people would be interested in seeing more of these two. Thanks!


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